


A Mother’s Reflection

by ScouterFight



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Happy Mother's Day, M/M, Mother's Day, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24101788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScouterFight/pseuds/ScouterFight
Summary: “Lireesa Windrunner, third Ranger-General of Quel’Thalas was mother to four spirited and rambunctious children.”During one of the rare days that the whole Windrunner clan is present at the family’s spire, the Matriarch of the powerful family reflects on her children, her grandchildren, and her family as a whole.Just a small piece for Mother’s Day.Enjoy.
Relationships: Jaina Proudmoore/Sylvanas Windrunner, Rhonin/Vereesa Windrunner, Turalyon/Alleria Windrunner
Comments: 23
Kudos: 136





	A Mother’s Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> AN: A short piece for Mother’s day. 
> 
> Thanks for assassinfox and Koshka for a quick beta read. 
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy reading.

* * *

Lireesa Windrunner, third Ranger-General of Quel’Thalas was mother to four spirited and rambunctious children. She had watched all four of them grow up over the years with her partner by her side. She had trained three of them personally on their ways to becoming Rangers, to becoming protectors of their home and guardians to their people. Her fourth child and only son was on his way to become a mighty mage under the guidance of his teachers. And she already knew that one day he would be a brilliant Magister, maybe even a Grand Magister.

Each of her children was different and completely unique. And their births had reflected that. She still remembered those four long nights, because for some reason all of her children had decided to grace this world with their presence at various hours not too long after midnight.

With Alleria she had been nervous, and anxious, unsure if she was doing the right thing. During the bad days, she had believed that she could never be a good mother, after all, she had always been so busy with her duties, that she feared that there would never be enough time for her child. 

On top of her own self-doubt and her insecurities she also never had a mother who she could confess her worries to, and who she could have asked for advice during her pregnancy. After all, both of her parents had been men. And her partner’s mother had died when they had been just a few years old.

The night she had held her firstborn child in her arms for the first time, she had known that the small squirming girl would not be her successor. Even then she had already been able to feel a fire burning within that small body. A fire that burned brightly with a need to be free. 

And a Ranger-General was never truly free, their duties bound them to so much and to so many people. They were bound to their King, to the Council, to their Kingdom, to their people, to their people's history, and to their Kingdom's future. The responsibilities and duties of a Ranger-General were never-ending. And Lireesa had known in that very moment that this would not be the life for her little Alleria.

No, she had known the moment she had held Alleria in her arms, that while the girl would maybe one day become a great Ranger, she would never be a Ranger-General. Her intuition hadn’t surprised her, not in the slightest, after all, it seemed to be a unique talent that she and her two predecessors all seemed to possess.

Her father had told her decades before his death, about a similar feeling. About a feeling that he had experienced when he first held his first two children in his arms. He had known that neither of Lireesa's older brothers would ever become his successors, but the moment he had held her, he had known that he was cradling the future Ranger-General in his arms. 

And according to him, his father, her grandfather, Talanas had experienced the same feeling deep in his chest, when he touched his twins for the first time. He had known which one of them would grow up to become the future Ranger-General of Quel’Thalas. 

No Windrunner was treated differently, each of them was allowed to grow up without pressure or expectations, with the adults watching over them, and grinning behind closed doors when the intuition of the Ranger-Generals proved to be right. Each time, the instinct, the hunch, this small gut feeling had led them in the right direction. When Lireesa had told her partner of her feelings, they had just laughed and told her that they would just have to try again.

The birth of her second daughter, her brave and fearless Sylvanas, during a night filled with dry thunder of all things, had been a whirlwind of events and emotions. The young spitfire had been born too early, nearly an entire month before her due date. And the healers had been concerned through the entire event, but in the end, she had held her healthy, if a little small, girl in her arms. 

Sylvanas had been safe and sound, and definitely far stronger than she had any right to be. It was during those first few peaceful moments of that night that she had known that Sylvanas would one day reach up to greatness. Her partner had seen the look on her face and had just sighed, before lamenting that they wouldn’t have to try anymore. 

In the end, it had been a joyous night, even with its rocky start, and it had only just gotten better when her oldest had been finally allowed into the room with them. Lireesa still remembered vividly how she and her little family had sat on the large bed, as outside of their home the dry lightning had roared viciously.

Despite already having found her future successor, Lireesa and her partner had still wanted more children, unusual for their race, but they both had always known that they wanted a large family. 

Vereesa’s birth had been the most uneventful of the three sisters. She had come quickly into the world, but she had been crying and screaming nearly the entire time. Where her oldest sister had been almost sleepily calm, and the second one attentive but relaxed, little Vereesa had almost seemed angry at being born, making her displeasure known for all of Azeroth to hear.

The fourth child had proved to be her last one, a complication during her pregnancy nearly caused her to lose her fourth baby months before her due date was to come. After Lirath’s birth, a rushed event where the entire family had feared that they would still lose the boy, it had been revealed by her healers that she would never again be able to conceive a child. 

Lireesa and her partner had been fine with that, four children were more than they could have hoped for when she and her partner had started talking about children. Lirath had been so incredibly intelligent from the start, hours after his birth he had already been paying attention to his surroundings to an almost frightening degree. Gazing at his parents and older sisters with an alarming intensity for his age.

And now centuries after becoming a mother for the first time, and decades after giving birth to her last child Lireesa was happier than ever. She had retired a handful of decades ago, to give the reins to her second daughter. She had desired to see her girl grow into the role of Quel'Thalas's Ranger General. Lireesa had wanted to watch Sylvanas become the leader she had known her daughter would one day be. 

And she was happy that she had made that decision. Her grandfather hadn’t been able to be there for her father, and her father hadn't been there for her during her first few years as Ranger-General. Both had died suddenly and unexpectedly, but Lireesa hadn't wanted to make the same mistake, she wanted to be more for her children than just their Ranger-General, in her mind she was first and foremost their mother. 

And seeing two of her four children with their own was just pure bliss. She still couldn’t believe that she was a grandmother now, even though Arator was almost two decades old. And the twins were growing so quickly, at her age she sometimes forgot how quickly time passed by when she wasn’t paying attention.

“You alright Minn’da?” Lireesa looked up from the pages of her book as her son’s voice brought her back to the present. She put the book on the cushions beside her and leaned back against the pillows. 

Lireesa smiled at her youngest. “Oh yeah, just thinking.”

He tilted his head slightly, “About what?”

“That Belore has blessed me with three perfect children, and one who can’t seem to mind his own business,” she finished with a grin.

“Ha, ha.” He laughed drily. “Very funny mother.”

Lireesa laughed with him, and patted the cushions beside herself, inviting her youngest to come and sit beside her. He cooked his head, his ears twitched, he hadn’t yet really mastered the art of controlling them consistently, before he complied. 

Quickly settling down beside her and leaning into her side. At almost a century of age, he was now taller than both her partner and Lireesa herself. Lirath was the tallest of the bunch, despite being the youngest and he loved to lord that fact over his sisters and parents. But Lireesa was just glad that he wasn't a Ranger, it wasn't very healthy for Rangers to be tall. 

The only time his height truly bothered her was when she wanted to hug her son. Those relaxed evenings when she just wanted to truly hug him like she had done so often when he had been younger, now it was easier to do so sitting down. 

The young mage burrowed himself into her side, as Lireesa laid her arms around him and rested her head on top of his. She breathed in his scent and was once again reminded of a time when he had just been a young lad and had stayed nearly constantly by her side. He had been such a momma's boy, and if she was honest with herself then she really missed these moments dearly. 

She squeezed him tighter and felt him shift, not to draw away but clearly unsure about something. 

“Ma?” Lirath asked, even as he sneaked his own arms around her body and squeezed her right back.

Lireesa could hear the confusion and slight concern in his voice and was quick to reassure him.

“Let me just hug you for a moment. These last few years have flown by so fast. You are only a couple of decades old, not that much older than your nephew, sometimes I’m still processing.”

“I’m alright,” he murmured into her skin from where he had buried his face into the space of her neck between her head and shoulder. His disheveled hair tickled the sensitive skin on her face and she smiled again. For some reason, he never managed to tame his mane, always unruly except when he bound it tightly into a braid.

“I know, I just-“

“It’s ok. I get it.”

They sat there for a little while longer, before she felt him shift again, this time to draw again. She kept her arms loosely around him, as he leaned away a little bit further.

“Besides, isn’t that normal?” He asked her, softly but there was an undertone of mischief creeping into it.

She drew away at his questions and rested one hand against his left cheek while the other fell down onto his shoulder. He leaned into the touch and smiled softly at her.

“What is?” 

Lireesa raised an eyebrow, already wary, when his soft smile morphed into a grin. “Well when you age, you get slower so everything seems to fly by so much faster.” He shrugged.

"Did you just call me old, young man?" Lireesa narrowed her eyes.

He grinned as he rolled away from her, just barely escaping her arm, as she swatted at him. “No…?” He asked as he rolled backwards and used the momentum to get back to his feet, once more just barely escaping being pulled back down by her.

“Lirath Windrunner! Come back here!” She shouted at his retreating back.

But her son just laughed as he dashed back towards the door through which he had entered the Spire just a few moments ago. He laughed again as he ducked at the last possible moment to dodge one of the cushions from the floor that she had thrown at his retreating back.

She smiled after him, and he was just gone from her sight for less than a few seconds when his face leaned around the doorway to look at her once more. The grin on his face was positively mischievous now.

"Well, it seems as if your aim is already diminishing."

Lireesa raised one eyebrow and threw another cushion at her son, this one collided with his head and a satisfying thud, a slight groan came from Lirath as the pillow landed on the ground.

"Fine, fine." And with those last words, he disappeared into the garden. His laughter still echoed behind him.

She glanced over to the family portrait that displayed her family’s history. Starting with her great-grandfather Talanas and his wife over two thousand years ago, and leading all the way through the generations to her three grandsons. 

Her eyes ghosted over the face of her four children, all of them grinning back at her. Alleria's confident smirk, Sylvanas calm smile, Vereesa's happy grin, and Lirath's mischievous half-smile half-smirk. Her three grandsons were standing with their mothers. Arator who was almost twenty summers now had his arm slung around his mother and father. And the twins were posing “heroically” in front of their mother.

It was a beautiful portrait, taken only a few months ago, a week before the twin’s birthday. The only two who were missing were her partner, who had died a few years ago to a sickness that had plagued them their entire life, and Jaina, Sylvanas’s betrothed.

Who hadn’t been able to make it, because she had been forced to deal with a diplomatic incident between Kul Tiras and the Zandalari Empire. It had ended peacefully, but Lireesa had been sure that they had just been a few misplaced words away from another all-out war against the Trolls. Her thoughts were once more interrupted this time by shouting.

“Quel'minn'da! Come outside! Minn’da, Sylvanas, and Alleria want to do an archery competition!” Galadin shouted as he and his brother skidded into the room.

She stood up from her place on the cushions to greet her grandsons. “Ah, and I suppose your mother and aunts want me to referee?" She asked as she shooed them both out of the room and back towards the backdoor.

“No! Aunt Jaina and Ann’da suggested that you come out and show them who is boss!” Giramar corrected, he was walking backwards to keep talking to her, and his grin was positively infectious.

“Yeah! Please come out, we want to see you kick their butts!” Galadin added as he jumped around her, making fighting noises and a lot of extravagant movements with his arms and legs.

She raised an eyebrow at the language but chose not to say anything, well aware that it could be much worse with Alleria and Sylvanas as their aunts. They both could swear like sailors sometimes, the Ranger-Matriarch wondered where those two had gotten that from, certainly not from her or their other parent.

It, of course, didn't help that her second daughter was soon to marry a woman who came from a long line of Admirals of the greatest Navy in the world. She had watched Jaina swear at several dignitaries from both Lordaeron and Stormwind and was glad that her grandsons hadn’t been present.

Lireesa just grinned when Galadin winced at her raised eyebrow, but the boy quickly perked up again when he saw her grin. The Matriarch of the Windrunner clan resolved to let her youngest daughter deal with her son’s language, it wasn’t as if Vereesa had been any better at that age. But she supposed growing up around soldiers and rangers quickly spoiled any attempt at teaching children not to curse.

“And aunt Alleria just laughed when she heard that.” Giramar faux whispered.

Lireesa mock gasped. “Oh? Really? Well, I suppose I just have to show your aunt what true skill really looks like."

“Yeah!”

“Whoho!”

“Well if that is so, I suppose I have to show them how it is done, how about you pick up my bow and quiver? It is in the hall.”

“Got it, grandma!”

“Yeah, you can count on us.”

"Ok, one of you gets my bow and the other my quiver with the arrows. And then I'll show the girls how it is done."

“Alright!”

She shook her head as the twins raced past her and back into the building. They were filled with so much energy that they literally ran circles around their parents, and really the rest of the family for good measure as well. Lireesa had known from experience that half-elves generally had more energy than either humans or full-blooded elves, but the twins seemed to have endless reserves of energy. Arator hadn’t been like that, or at least he hadn’t had anyone who had pushed his hyperactive behavior further and further. These two boys fed on each other’s mood like dogs did.

Lireesa walked through the doorway and onto the grass behind her home and smiled when she spotted her family all over the place. 

Arator and his father were sparring with blunt swords. The younger man was twirling around his steadfast father who didn't give anything away as he easily kept up with his energetic son. And within a few seconds, the "fight" was already over. The young gangly elf had been soundly beaten within a few moves and was now laying flat on his back with his arms and legs stretched out. 

His sword was held in his father’s left hand, while Turalyon whirled his own playfully around with his right, as he grinned down at his son. Arator looked a bit dazed as he laid there, but it didn’t take long until he was groaning exaggeratedly as he moved to his feet and bemoaned his loss playfully.

Looking over the rest of the yard she saw Lirath sitting together with Jaina and Rhonin in the grass not too far away from father and son. The three mages were softly talking with each other, knowing those three it was probably about some sort of research or magical experiment that one of them was trying out. She looked closer and saw Lirath weaving flower crowns and that both Jaina and Rhonin had already both received several finished crowns. 

Lireesa saw the mischief in her son’s eyes as he talked, and just hoped that they didn’t have to fish any of the three of them out of the ocean or helped either of them out of one of the tall trees of the Eversong Woods. This was seriously not how she had planned to spend her evening. But if she was honest, she also hadn’t planned to enter a shootout against her three daughters.

And said daughters were standing a few meters away with their bows talking, or more like goading each other. She suppressed laughter when she saw Alleria being shoved by her younger sisters in response to something she must have said.

The Windrunner Matriarch smiled softly as she gazed at her family, her heart ached as she realized that one person was missing, but she realized that they were definitely present, in each of her children, and grandchildren. Alleria’s attitude, Sylvanas’s calm presence, Vereesa’s joyous laughter, Lirath’s intelligence, Arator’s sharp grin, and Galadin’s and Giramar’s boundless energy.

Alleria looked over towards where Lireesa was standing near the door and grinned when she saw her. “Ah Minn’da, can you believe it? Both Jaina and Rhonin doubt my abilities to beat you!”

“There are some things about shooting the bow that I haven’t even taught you yet.”

Alleria raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Is that so? Then let’s see if you can back up your words, Lirath told us that your “legendary” aim is already starting to fade.”

Lireesa could almost hear the quotation marks as Alleria pronounced the word legendary far too heavily. Both Vereesa and Sylvanas laughed with their older sister, even though Lireesa spotted the small amount of doubt in her second daughter’s eyes. Sylvanas had spent more time with her than any of her other children. The former Ranger-General knew that her young successor at least had an inkling how this was going to play out.

She laughed as she walked closer, it was high time that her daughter was beaten at something she was good at, her head was getting far too big for her own good.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Nothing much to say, just a quick one-shot about Mother’s Day, to be honest, I was in the mood to write Lireesa for a bit.  
> Anyway, I hope that you liked this little piece.
> 
> Anyway, I hope that you liked this little piece.
> 
> So, maybe leave a constructive comment down below. Leave a kudos or maybe bookmark the story, that would really make my day.
> 
> Thank you very much, this is ScouterFight and I’m out.


End file.
